Tarte Frangipane aux Poires

This is the quintessential French tart, made up of ripe, juicy pears, frangipane and sweet pie dough. The latter two components are a quick mix in the Kitchen Aid, and then it’s all about the toppings. Substitute any garnish you like—I also use stone fruits like plums and apricots, which can be left halved, skin side down on the frangipane. It is a few steps to make but spread them out over a couple days and it’s a real breeze—even the best patisseries can’t do better than this simple classic!

Difficulty:

Prep Time: 40 minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes

Makes one 9-inch tart

Ingredients:

1 recipe Sweet Tart Dough, Pate Sucrée

9 Tbsp. (135g) Unsalted Butter, room temperature

¾ cup (150g) Sugar

1 ½ cups (150g) Almond Flour

3 large Eggs, room temperature

3 Tbsp. All-Purpose Flour

2 tsp. grated Orange zest and a 2” peel

2 Tbsp. Orange juice

2-3 large Pears

¼ cup (90g) Acacia Honey

2 Tbsp. Lemon juice

Technique:

•Prepare tart dough as directed. Wrap in plastic film and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight. When thoroughly chilled, preheat oven to 340ºF/170ºC.

•Wash/dry/flour your countertop, and roll out dough, flipping over and re-flouring surface every 2-3 stroked with the rolling pin.

•Once the dough is round in shape and approximately ¼” thick, lightly butter the tart pan and gently press in dough. Don’t worry if the dough breaks; just patch it back together and make sure you work it well into the corners and scalloped edges.

•Cut a round piece of parchment paper and place over dough, gently folding edges against corners. Fill with dried rice or beans and blind bake for 20 minutes, turning half-way through.

•Remove from oven and reserve beans/rice for future use. Cook for 5-10 more minutes until the crust is firm in the center and cool.

•Using the electric mixer, combine butter and sugar and beat with the paddle until light in color (2-3 minutes). Mixing between each addition, add almond flour, the eggs (one at a time), and the flour.

•Brush the bottom of the tart shell with half the honey, and add the frangipane in an even layer.

•Working quickly so they don’t turn brown, peel the pears and cut in half lengthwise. Use a 1” melon baller to scoop out the seeded part of the core. Slice the pears ¼” thick and fan them out over the frangipane, keeping the tip in the center. Each half should cover about 1/6 of the tart.

•Brush generously with lemon juice and bake in the center of a 350ºF oven for 35-40 minutes, turning part way through so the crust colors evenly.

•Remove any white from the inside of the orange peel and finely julienne like thin matchsticks. Sprinkle over the tart 5-10 minutes before it finishes cooking

•Allow the tart to cool to body temperature and brush the surface with 2T warm honey.

Plum Tartlettes with Meyer Lemon Plum Preserves

Tuesday, Apr 24, 2012